Thread: Solar Regulator

Originally Posted by knp

Just wondering if anyone has any knowledge or experience of connecting the vehicle battery/alternator to the panel input of a solar regulator? The aim is to achieve reliable charging of 2nd (dual) battery when using a mixed setup of flooded starter and AGM batteries.

The solar regulator can be set to charge either GEL, AGM, or flooded so it would be a good "vehicle charger" methinks. The one I have is from Jaycar MP3722 with a 32A peak input current. It also has over current protection but It's not clear if this is on the input or not.

Would I need to have a current limiter between the alternator and solar regulator? Does anyone already happen to have an appropriate circuit diagram I could use? Or would a 30A fuse be all that's required to protect the controller?

Any help and suggestions re this would be much appreciated.
Cheers
Peter

Haven't done exactly what you want but I have the programmable 20 amp regulator like Jaycar sell. The output voltage under load is 0.1 to 0.2 volts lower than the input. Forum member Blknight suggested a thermal resetting circuit breaker in line, with a large globe wired across it to allow reduced current to flow when it goes over your chosen current limit. You would need to measure your peak vehicle charging voltage to see if it was sufficient to drive the regulator successfully. I would wire it directly to the alternator for that reason.

i am about to research the redarc dc to dc charger, apparantly you can program it for the type of battery

Thanks for the info. Will investigate the thermal breaker - didn't know about them.

Anyway I found a couple of circuits that may be of interest.
12 Volt 20 Amp Power Supply
Regulated DC power supply
12 Volt 30 Amp Power Supply

And while there I also came across this.
Winscope
Seems it'll also work on a linux box under wine - can't wait to try it out. It should be possible to rig up a series of switched resistors to allow display of a larger input voltage.